Mainstream press? How about anyone that has paid attention to politics in the last 50 years?! Trump's success is unprecedented. George Wallace ran under a third party.
I don't think that the Republicans are going to run a 3rd party candidate, they'll give Trump support to some degree, but I think they'll definitely focus on keeping control of the Senate.
They are losing the senate. They can't hold it. What they don't want to have happen, however, is to lose the House or give up a super majority in the Senate!
The smart money is on Clinton.
But the small voice in the back of the head says W was elected in '04 and Trump seems to have a way with people. But can minorities have that short of a memory? I don't think so. Hispanics are registering to vote in record numbers. Trump said a lot of shit that some white people love, but the minorities, especially Hispanics probably won't forget. That alone should (I emphasize "should") drown him in the general election. But I don't want to win in '16. I want to crush Trump in '16 and kill this Toddler Tea Party movement in the Republican Party. This is your guy, he got crushed, go crawl back under a rock you fucks.